Idiots in Love, their brothers and their friends
by moonygirl83
Summary: Why is it that the people concerned are always the last to know?


John Watson discovers a few things during his first week as Sherlock Holmes' flatmate:

_ his flatmate is a genius;

_ said flatmates is brilliant;

_ he is also the greatest slob John has ever met;

_ there's something skewed in Sherlock's relationship with his brother (and John thought he and Harry had issues…)

_ Detective Inspector Lestrade ("Please, call me Greg") is in love with Sherlock Holmes;

_ Sherlock has no idea. Neither does Greg.

While he does not reach the level of cleverness of the world's only consulting detective, John is not an idiot. He has no intention of rocking the boat this early on and thus, he will NOT inform either Sherlock or Greg of Greg's feelings.

Moreover, he has an inkling he will need knowing that he knows something Sherlock does not in order to deal with him.

It's going to be fun.

Detective Inspector Gregory Lestrade realises he is in love with Sherlock Holmes sometime between the moment Sherlock died and the day he comes back. In his defence, he feels he has a few excuses for not letting himself acknowledge said feelings sooner:

1) He was married, and contrary to his ex, he was no cheater;

2) This is Sherlock he is talking about. The man seems quite incapable of filtering his thoughts and deductions about people and while Greg is not shy, he is also pretty sure that, had he realised sooner, Sherlock would have deduced it straight away. (Knowing Greg's luck, it would have been in the middle of a crime scene).

3) This is Sherlock HOLMES. After what they have been through with Sherlock's detox, he considers Mycroft a friend, but since his first "kidnapping", he has no doubt whatsoever Mycroft would "disappear" him for even daring to think of possibly maybe asking Sherlock out for dinner (on a date.)

4) Sadly, rejection hurts, no matter your age. Greg is pretty sure the odds of Sherlock agreeing aren't in the same galaxy, so…

The day Mycroft Holmes realises that DI Lestrade is in love with his little brother is the day said little brother comes back from the "dead".

He knows from experience how many things can go wrong where his younger sibling is concerned and he has no intention of losing him. Thus, it only makes sense for him to be watching Sherlock through the CCTV.

Which is how he discovers Gregory's feelings for Sherlock.

His nickname might well be the Ice Man but he is not unaware of human feelings. Thus, it is easy for him to notice that Gregory's relief and happiness at seeing Sherlock is far more than that of a friend.

Sherlock does not see it of course, and by the time Gregory is done hugging his brother, he has schooled his expression into something calmer (less besotted?).

Anyway, it seems it is time to have a little "chat" with DI Lestrade again.

The day Sherlock realises that Lestrade has feelings (FEELINGS!) for him, he is high as a kite. In his defence, he was on a plane for a one-way trip to Easter Europe no one, not even Mycroft, expected him to come back from. So yes, he got high.

But then, a video of Moriarty appeared and he had to figure out whether it was possible that Moriarty was still alive. Part of it was by solving a very old case. While Sherlock imagined everyone he knew back in Victorian times (and wouldn't Mycroft be ticked with how fat his brain had made him to be?!), part of it had also happened in modern days. Sherlock did not really get the significance of it right away, but when he was representing himself digging Emelia Riccoletti's grave, it was Mycroft and Lestrade who stayed with him, with Greg helping him.

Sherlock may not always (or ever really!) see eye to eye with Mycroft but the one thing he had always been sure of was that his older brother would always so whatever was in his power to help him, no matter what. To realise that Greg would do the same when he had no such familial obligations to do so…

It was mind-boggling.

The day John Watson, Greg Lestrade, Mycroft Holmes and Sherlock Holmes realised that Greg's feelings may not be so one-sided as they had first thought happened to be the day when Sherlock figured out that the sweet-looking old secretary taking notes during important Cabinet meetings was in fact not so nice and sweet but rather a traitor to England, contracting mercenaries across the world based on the classified intel she was duly taking notes on.

Of course, Mycroft as a "minor Government official" had to be around to witness her arrest. Of course, since Sherlock was involved, it should have been no surprise to anyone that things would go pear-shaped. After all, who could have guesses that a sixty-year-old woman would be carrying a gun in her purse? Or that she would seem so very confident yielding it? Vivian Norbury had been deemed a danger to the country but not to the population, which is why Lestrade had come unarmed, a fact Sherlock was well aware of.

When Mrs Norbury pointed her gun in their direction, Sherlock took one step to the side which put him directly in front of Lestrade. Said fact was immediately noticed by both Mycroft and Gregory but while Greg was thinking something along the lines of "what on Earth is the idiot doing?", Mycroft knew straight away that his little brother's actions had to do with "sentiment". (Although,if Greg had not been behind Sherlock but in a position to see his face, he would have seen his fear. She had been pointing her gun rather more towards the copper than the detective…)

When a shot rang, Sherlock's brain was a little busier repeating "not dead, not dead, how am I not dead?", than figuring out why he was so willing to protect Lestrade.

For his part, Doctor John Watson realised that Sherlock had moved to protect Greg only after he had done his part (which was as had been since their first case together to protect the idiot he called his best friend. At least, when said idiot let him do it. No he is still not over the two years of mourning he went through, never mind the whole clusterfuck of Mary shooting Sherlock, thanks a lot). He was also damn glad he knew better than to go anywhere with Sherlock without his gun (and a willingness to use it to protect his family.)

Well, thank God, Mycroft was there and so used to take charge, because neither Greg nor Sherlock were about to and there was the small matter of John shooting someone. So that left John without much time to figure out what was going on (Mycroft was as ever dreadfully efficient).

However, years of friendship, partnership and sharing the flat with the man gave John a unique insight into all things Sherlock. It had also made him quite good at doing damage control, which is why the moment Greg grabbed Sherlock and turned him around to face him and said:

"You absolute tosser! What the hell were you doing?", John moved in between Mycroft and the two other men.

"Well…I...uhm...".

None of them had ever seen Sherlock this inarticulate before, which was weird. John, however, has a fair inkling of where this was all going, so he decided to avert the crisis that would be on their hands, should Mycroft intervene in his brother's life right now (World War III would be toddler's play next to that!) by redirecting Mycroft's attention. Thankfully, he had just the thing for it too:

"Mycroft, would you mind giving me a lift home, please? I really ought to get back to Rosie." And there it was, the magic word, "Rosie". His daughter was but a few months old, but she had the British Government wrapped around her little finger.

"Of course, John."

The last thing the doctor and the elder Holmes heard was:

"Well, aren't you going to say anything? You never sh...oompf!". Which John took to mean that Sherlock in his typical fashion of being impulsive had thrown himself at Greg.

Good for them.


End file.
